STATE OF NEW YORK. No. 15. IN ASSEMBLY, FEB. 2, 1858. ... ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ADJ,UTANrrGENERAL~ STATE OF NEW-YORK, t EXECUTIVE PEPARTMENT, Albany Feb. 2, 1858. ~ To the .J1ssembly : I herewith transmit the report of the Adjutant General for the year 1851. IOHN A. KING. lAssembly, No. Hi.] 1 [u.n.2000.J l REPORT. GENERAL HEAD-QUARTERS, STATE OF NEW-YORK, ~ ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, ALBANY, Jan. 1, 1858. 5 To his Excellency JOHN A. KING, Commander-in-ChieJ of the military force()f the State: Sir: In pursuance of the law of Congress" establishing a uni- fOl'm militia throughout the United State!S," I have the honor to submit the following report. Upon assuming the duties of this office, I did not find upon r' the records of the department all the information that appeared to me to be requisite to a practical knowledge of the actual situ- I ation of the military force of the State, in respect to its num- bers, equipment or discipline. As this knowledge was indispen- sable to a propel' discharge of the duties of the office, I endea- vored to obtain the same by issuing, under your sanction, a general order, of which a copy may be found in the appendix, marked (A), directing the commandants of regiments to return, upon the blanks accompanying the order, a description of' their regimental territories, the names of the officers of the field and staff, th~ number of their companies, and, under their proper letters, the names of the officers, the number of men in each, the I ' character of the arm, and the ordnance, arms and military stores in their possession. It was, of course, not to be anticipated that so much information, required from a force not constantly on duty, nor habituated to the daily routine of the soldier, should be promptly transmitted to the' department. However, it is gratifying to state that, except in a few instances, the delay in r the returns was far less than was feared, while the number of I regimental commandants who made returns quite surpassed all ~ 4 [ASSEMBLY expectations. Out of seventy-one regiments, there are only six from which returns have not been received, viz.: the 35th, 47th, 59th, 618t, 62d, and 63d, and of these, two have been disbanded during the past year. The information derived in pursuance of the order referred to has been made available by being incorporated in a new roster of the military force. The plan of the one recently in use, though an improvement upon that hitherto employed, did not contain all the informa- tion desired. The new roster, however, is now complete, and is as perfect as it can be made from the returns received. Great care has been observed before entering upon it any name returned in the regimental blanks, to ascertain if such name were already upon the old roster, and if not there, then to search for it among the usual returns ·of the brigadiers, and if not found, it has not been entered. It will be found that there are many instances where names have been unavoidably omitted, through a neglect ofthe respective colonels or brigadiers in making the proper return for the commis- sion. Happily, however, from the plan of the roster, these omissions are susceptible of correction, where the attention of the department is called to the error by a return of ~he proper general. From this official roster has been digested the one hereto an- nexed, which is believed to be sufficiently full and exact to meet the demands of the service. It will be observed, however, that the residences of the company officers have not been given, it having been found impossible to include them within the limits of the page. The enumeration of the strength of each company and the total of the regiment, as contained in the roster, are taken from these regimental returns transmitted to the department during the past summer, and furnish, perhaps, a fair estimate of the strength of the force; yet, in special instances, from some unpre- cedented increase, as will be noted with regard to the 7th Regi- ment, they may not show exactly the present regimental strength. No" 15] 5 It will be seen from the table in the roster containing a reca- pitulation of the force, that the military force of the State is divided into eight divisions, twenty-eight brigades and sixty- seven regiments, comprising in the aggregate 16,434 officers and men, and is classified in the various arms as follows: Of the infantry arm there are 241 companies and 8,779 officers and men. Of the artillery arm there are 79 companies and 3,1R8 officers and men. Of the cavalry arm there are 41 companies and 1,712 officers and men. Of the rifle arm. there are 41 companies and 1,835 officers and men. There· are of general officers 36. Of the field officers of regiments, 190. And of the staff and non-commissioned staff, 694. :Bya comparison of this aggregate with that set forth last year in the report from this department, it will be seen that there is ,8 somewhat large diwinution, which need, however, suggest no fears for the existence of the force. In fact, though several regiments have heen disbanded by consolidation with others, the Dumber of the rank and file to day cannot be less than it was last year at this time. On the contrary if there be any difference it is one indicating an increase of the force. The total as now stated is based upon sufficiently reliable data while that published last year was, I am informed, the result of a calculation necessarily uncertain, and, as it now seems,. quite at variance with the fact. From these special regimental returns has likewise been di- gested a table of ordnance, armS and other military stores be- longing to the State and in the possession of the troops, which will be found in the appendix marked ( :B. ) By this table it appears that there are in the hands of the troops, of ordnance, arms and accoutrements, as follows: Of cannon of'the calibre of nine pounders, ...••••••.• " 4 do six pounders, .••••• " •••.•• 98 , 6 rASSEMBLY Of howitzers of the calibre of twenty-tour pounders, ..•• 15 do twelve pounders, ..•..••• 2 Of mountain howitzers, •••••.......••••....••.••••• 4 Of ml1skets, .•......•••...•...•..•. , •••...•..•••••• 12,031 Of rifles, ,.... .. .. 2,130 Of mllsketoons, ...•••..••••••••...•••.......•..•••• 1,042 Of pistols, ..... , ..••.•.•• , ..........•....••..•..•. 3,163 Of sabres and swords, .•..••.•••..••.•••....••••..•• 4,288 The artillery is returned to be in an excellent condition, while the muskets are for the most part reported as utterly worthless. Indeed, these special returns have been so constantly a matter of reference in the daily discharge of the duties of the office that I am at a loss to understand how the department could have been satisfactorily managed without the information which they contain. The subject which next claimed the attention of the depart- ment, after putting in train the means by which the necessary departmental information was to be obtained, was one having reference to the military commutation. Complaints of the utter and even wilful negligence of the assessors in making out the enrolments of those liable to military duty in their respective towns or wards, and of the carelessness of the civil officers in enforcing the collection of the commutation where it had been assessed, having reached the department, the idea was enter- tained that, perhaps, if the various supervisors, assessors and col- lectors throughout the State were properly apprised of their duties in this regard, and of the penalties attaching for their neglect, the cause of these complaints would in a great measure cease and the commutation fund be necessarily augmented. With this view, instructions in pursuance of section 9, of art. I, of title III, of the Militia Law, were prepared and printed in pamphlet form, a copy of which is hereto annexed marked C., and several thousands of them accompanied by a general order to regimental commandants (also annexed) were transmitted to each of such commandants for distribution to the various civil officers concerned in the collection of the commutation fund of their respective districts. r No. 15.j 7 Though this effort may not have been as successful as was de~ sired, it can hardly be said to have utterly failed of accomplish- ing some improvement, for the reports of the boards of supervi- sors show in the aggregate an increase over the enrolment of the past year, yet not of so .marked a character as to lead to the hope that the military portion of the tax to be returned next month will much exceed the limit it has heretofore reached-a result indi- cating a state of things, it must be confessed, discouraging and hopeless of relief under the present law. The quota of arms due the State from the general government for the year 1856 having been forwarded in muskets.altered from flint to percussion instead of the original percussion muskets as desired, was not accepted by the authorities of the State. Con- sequently, for the past year there were two quotas due. The one for 1856, after deducting a balance due the general govern- ment for the expense of the alterati.on of muskets in 1855 amoun- ted in muskets to, ........•• 1,563, equal in money to $20,319 That of 1857, after deducting for transportation of the re- turned quota amounted in muskets to, . • • . •• . • • .. 1,5981\ do 20,775 1 Both quotas to, ..••.•••...• 3,161T 3 $41,094 ==== As it was no less o'Djectionable in 1857 than in 1856 to receive from the general governmeut the quotas in altered muskets, an urgent demand was again addressed to the Ordnance Depart- ment at 'tVashington for the original percussion lrm, but with- out success; however, after a somewhat lengthy correspondence, it was conceded on the part of the authorities at 'Vashington to be possible to furnish the State with two-thirds of its quota for one of the years in cadet muskets, and also to furnish the long range rifle, with sword bayonet, (commonly called the Minie rifle,) and the long range rifled musket, with Maynard primer attachment.